Fabric



Oct. 15,1946. F. G. MANSON ET AL 9, 9

FABRIC Original Filed June 7 1945 FRANK s. MANSON AND JAMES J; MASKEY THEIRWM Patented Oct. 15, 1946 FABRIC yFrank G.'Manson, Chicago, 111., and James J.

. Maskey, Ferndale, Mich..

Original application June 7, 1943, Serial No.

489,959. Divided and this application April 25, l 1945, Serial No. 590,272

This is a division of our co-pending United States patent application Serial No. 489,959, which was filed on June 7, 1943, and which issued on September 4, 1945, as United States Patent No. 2,384,187.

This invention relates to a novel fabric for use in making parachute canopies and in particular relates to a fabric provided with a double ripstop construction which provides extra strength to light-weight fabric.

The novel fabric from which panels for a parachute canopy may be cut is a strong, light-weight material --having a network of heavy threads forming-a primary rip-stop and having the primary rip-stop network subdivided by a network of lighter threads forming a secondary rip-stop, the spaces between the threads of the primary and secondary rip-stop" networks being filled with enough still lighter warp and fill threads to provide the desired porosity for the parachute canopy in which the fabric is used.

It is an object of this invention, therefore, to provide a novel light-weight fabric from which panels of parachute canopies can be made.

Another object of the invention is to provide a novel light-weight fabric which is made strong by a network of primary and secondary ripstops.

With these and incidental objects in view, the invention consists in the provision of a novel fabric having superior qualities, the essential elements of which fabric are set forth in the appended claims, and a preferred form or embodiment of the fabric and an example of one use for the fabric are hereinafter disclosed with reference to the drawing which accompanies and forms a part of this specification.

In said drawing,

Fig. 1 illustrates a portion of the novel fabric and shows in particular the arrangement of the cross mesh heavy threads which are used to pro vide additional strength to the fabric and form the rip-stop construction therein.

Fig. 2 is a layout illustrating the manner in which the panels are cut from the novel fabric.

Fig. 3 is a plan view of a hemispherical parachute canopy, showing the arrangement of the panels and showing in particular the direction in which thethreads of the fabric run in the different panels.

Description Fig. 1 shows a portion of v the novel fabric. This fabric may be made of any suitable material and contains a. network of primary rip-stops of heavy thread, as double, seventy denier thread, which primary rip stop threads are spaced one inch apart and run at right angles to form a series of one-inch squares having two sides parallel to the selvage edge of the fabric. Each of. the squares formed by the primary rip-. stops 59 is divided into squares by secondary rip-stops 5| of lighter-weight thread, as triple, twenty denier thread. The threads of secondary rip-stops are spaced a quarter of an inch apart, and these squares, formed by the secondary rip-stop threads 5!, are filled with still lighter-weight thread 52, as twenty denier thread, for, warp and fill sufncient to give the desired porosity to the fabric.

The network of secondary rip-stop tends to limit any tear from extending past the quarterinch squares formed thereby, but, even if the tear should break through a secondary rip-stop, it would be stopped by the heavier primary ripstop before the tear could extend much more than an inch. Thus applicants have provided a fabric which is light in weight but which is made strong by the networks of primary and secondary rip-stops.

As an example of the manner in which the novel fabric is used in making panels for parachute canopies, reference may be had to Fig. 2, which shows a portion of the fabric with the salvage edges at l2 and I3. The shaded portions of Fig. 2 show diagrammatically the directions in which the threads run in the fabric. The fabric is out along the lines [4, I5, and IE to produce the-panels l I, and the edges of the panels which are formed by these cuts are sealed or fused by heat if the fabric is made of thermoplastic material, and by the application of a suitable sealing compound if the fabric is made of other than a thermoplastic material, and these edges, by being sealed, are made resistant to ravel and are the equivalent of selvage edges. In the panels thus cut, the rip-stops are not at right angles to the length of the panel but are at an angle thereto, as shown in Fig. 2.

The panels resulting from cutting the fabric according to the layout of Fig. 2 are joined as shown in Fig. 3, with the selvage edge of adjacent panels joined, as at I8, and the "rip-stop threads-in the adjacent panels, so joined, running in the samedirections. The shaded portions of the panels in Fig. 3 show diagrammatically the direction in which the threads in the fabric run in the various adjacent panels.

While the particular fabric herein shown and described is particularly adapted for use in the manufacture of parachute canopies, it'is.to'bev understood that it is not intended to confine the invention to the use of the fabric .forthispurposc or to the use of the particular weights of threads in the fabric a herein disclosed, for it is susceptible of other uses and can be formed. of different weight threads all coming within the scope of the claims which follow.

' What is claimed is:

1. A light-weight fabric from which parachute canopies may be made, consisting of a warp and fill of light-weight thread having therein a network of heavy thread to provide strength to the fabric and forming a primary rip-stop and a further network sub-dividing the primary ripstop, said further network being made of medium heavy threads to provide additional strength to the fabric and forming a secondary ripstop.

2. A light-weight fabric from which parachute canopies may be made, said fabric including a primary rip-stop network of heavy threads dividing. the fabric into squares,v a secondary ripstop network of lighter-weight threads sub-dividing the squares of the primary network into smaller squares, and a warp and fill of still lighter-weight thread filling the spaces between the threads of the primary and secondary ripstops; said warp and fill being effective to give the fabric the desired porosity and at the same time allowing it to be very light in weight, while the primary and secondary rip-stops give the fabric strength without unduly adding to its weight.

3. A parachute fabric formed of a warp and fillofli'ght-weight thread and having therein a network consisting of thread approximately seven. times as heavy as those of the warp and fill to strengthenhthe fabric and to form a primary rip-stop, and also having a further network subrdividing the primary rip-stop and consisting of threads approximately three times as heavy as those of the warp and fill to provide further strength to the fabric and to form a secondary rip-stop.

4. A light-weight parachute fabric including a primary rip-stop formed by a network of double, seventy denier threads running at right angles to each other and spaced apart to form one-inch squares, a secondary ripstop formed by a network of triple, twenty denier threads spaced one-quarter of an inch apart to divide the one-inch primary rip-stop squares into quarter-inch squares, and a warp and fill of twenty denier thread'between the threads forming the primary and secondary rip-stops.

' FRANK G. MANSON.

JAMES J. MASKEY. 

